the street musician

The Street Musician.

The street musician is an elderly black man. His hair is white and gray. He is blind, and this is plain for any passer-by to see. He plays a happy tune on his old harmonica.

He has never learnt formal music, and the tunes that he plays, he has taught himself. He has a small chair behind him, which he sits on when his legs get tired. He plays his improvised tunes all day. The shoppers walk up and down past him. Occasionally one would stop and drop a few coins in his cup. He would thank them and then continue to play music on his instrument.

He can hear by the sound of the coins dropping into the cup, more or less how much money has been deposited. The donor would get a 'thanks' and a tune, corresponding to the amount of money which the old man calculates that he has received. If you tipped him generously, you would get a generous 'thank you' in return, and he would play with gusto. Should you tip him a small amount, you would still get a 'thank you' and a tune, but not with quite the same amount of fervour.

The old man plays and plays, and the crowds drift by, with an occasional tipper. He has been playing at this shop for more than fifteen years, and has always made a bit of money doing so. Soon however, they will be upgrading the entire shopping complex, and he doubts whether he would still be aloud to play there then.

But while he is able to do so, he plays. He blows a half-happy, half-sad tune on the harmonica, as the people walk by and listen.

'Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap...and God feedeth them..." Luke 12:24

The End.

Copyright ' JP Brown ' 29/12/2006.